"You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"
I remember somebody whom I saw the "Dark Knight" with being quite horrified by that quote. But you know what? I think The Joker's right but I also don't think that mankind's love affair with "plans" is any kind of indictment of its worth of foolishness.
Let's face, life can be pretty horrifying. It's even more horrifying to think that it could be completely random. Even if some people think it's a useful fiction, man needs to impose meaning on the world. The key word there is useful.
Take my job for example. This month started out rough and I felt waves of anxiety starting to drown me whenever I thought about my quota and all the changes we are going through as a company and a department. Everyday I had to tell myself that everything would be all right if I just followed my personal sales plan and continued to work hard at hitting my daily metrics and I did. The result was that I killed my quota and was told by the higher-ups that I am being groomed for a promotion.
See, that's where most people go wrong with goals and happiness. They set them so high that they got overwhelmed when they think about them. I am going through that right now with my second novel. Starting a new book just seems so overwhelming unless I remind myself that I don't need to write a novel right now, all I need to do is write for one to two hours everyday and if I do that, eventually I will have another pretentious unpublished novel under my belt.
So it appears that you can checklist your way to a happy and productive life.
PS
I believe the lack of a rigorous systematic process is responsible for my anxiety regarding all new things like doing Thank-You cards.
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You sent me a very kind email thank you and that is sufficient for us. So go ahead and check Dave and I off your thank you list. One less thing.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I am about to publish a book, I feel an impatient desire to know what kind of a book it is. Of course I can find this out only by waiting until the critics shall have printed their reviews. I do know, beforehand, what the verdict of the general public will be, because I have a sure and simple method of ascertaining that. Which is this -- if you care to know. I always read the manuscript to a private group of friends, composed as follows:
ReplyDelete1. Man and woman with no sense of humor.
2. Man and woman with medium sense of humor.
3. Man and woman with prodigious sense of humor.
4. An intensely practical person.
5. A sentimental person.
6. Person who must have a moral in, and a purpose.
7. Hypercritical person -- natural flaw-picker and fault-finder.
8. Enthusiast -- person who enjoys anything and everything, almost.
9. Person who watches the others, and applauds or condemns with the majority.
10. Half a dozen bright young girls and boys, unclassified. (JOHN AND KAREN IN CALIFORNIA)
11. Person who relishes slang and familiar flippancy.
12. Person who detests them.
13. Person of evenly balanced judicial mind.
14. Man who always goes to sleep.
These people accurately represent the general public. Their verdict is the sure forecast of the verdict of the general public. There is not a person among them whose opinion is not valuable to me; but the man whom I most depend upon -- the man whom I watch with the deepest solicitude -- the man who does most toward deciding me as to whether I shall publish the book or burn it, is the man who always goes to sleep. If he drops off within fifteen minutes, I burn the book; if he keeps awake three-quarters of an hour, I publish -- and I publish with the greatest confidence, too. For the intent of my works is to entertain; and by making this man comfortable on a sofa and timing him, I can tell within a shade or two what degree of success I am going to achieve. His verdict has burned several books for me -- five, to be accurate.